Julie Messing, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation, has been awarded both the Paul L. Pfeiffer Professional and Creative Teaching Award and the College of Business Administration and Graduate School of Management Annual Teaching Award. Messing also teaches marketing courses within the college.

“Julie is all about students,” says Lee McMannis, current Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the center. “She has a strong commitment to make the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation a true center of excellence. It is great to see her efforts recognized by students and outsiders. Her work ethic and drive go way beyond the term ‘extra effort.’”

Through the center, Messing has initiated the annual Entrepreneurship Extravaganza, an event designed to provide students and the community with tools and resources to help them get into the entrepreneurial mindset.

The Paul L. Pfeiffer Professional and Creative Teaching Award was established at Kent State by the late Paul L. Pfeiffer to recognize teachers who enhance their classroom instruction with relevant work experiences. This award is given to a full-time faculty member in the College of Business Administration and Graduate School of Management who communicates the integral relationship between business and theory.

The College of Business Administration and Graduate School of Management annual award recognizes excellence in teaching and those professors who make a lasting impression on their students.

The Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation offers students opportunities to work in a student business incubator with business professionals, run their own micro-business with university-provided funding, participate in business concept competitions, and meet and talk with successful entrepreneurs through events such as the Michael D. Solomon Speaker Series in Entrepreneurship.

For more information about the center, visit http://business.kent.edu/cebi/.